As ski season approaches, check out this guide on places to go, trends to try and ways to fit in. We begin with the essentials: words to ski by. If last winter's ski instructor ("ski pros," they're called) went on about carving, corn and mashed potatoes, he wasn't talking about a holiday dinner. That was Ski Speak, the lingo you need to know if you want to sound like a "ripper," not a "gaper."
Snow types
BOILERPLATE Hard, icy snow, a surface so dense your skis can't make an edge.
CORN Crumbly, cornlike spring snow that has melted and refrozen.
CORDUROY Freshly groomed snow marked with thin, parallel grooves.
DEATH COOKIES Crunchy, crusty bits of snow that form when snow melts during the day and refreezes at night. Hitting a patch of it at high speed acts like a brake.
MASHED POTATOES Mushy spring snow often found at busy trail crossings or near the base area at the end of a warm day.
BRAIN BUCKET A helmet, the kind of protection that smart skiers swear by.
BUMP A hulking mogul of snow, originally an insignificant pimple that grows into a mound as skiers steer around it.